We are back to the drawing board on colleges for my senior daughter as she wants to pursue a BM in contemporary music composition / songwriting. We have a list of schools so are making progress. We spent spring break visiting liberal arts schools before this shift so haven’t visited any schools on the new list…
We’ve been told it is a good idea to schedule a lesson with a professor when visiting the schools, but I’m not sure if it makes sense to visit places before we even know if she gets an audition? We live in Colorado so except for CU Denver (where she did a summer program, auditioned, and was accepted), it would be a plane ride trip. I want to give her the opportunity to visit and explore these schools, but don’t want to have her fall in love with somewhere and not be asked for an audition… Questions… Are these lessons always in person or has anyone done remote/zoom lessons? How important are in person lessons? I’d love for her to get some feedback in a lesson before any potential auditions as well with enough time to incorporate feedback. Appreciate any advice.
Will she audition on voice? I’m asking because it may help posters give more specific feedback.
She will audition on composition / songwriting abilities. Her principal instrument is piano.
The student musicians I know were mainly in classes of 2021-2023. Those were covid years so the majority of lessons were virtual. My own son had three lessons in-person with one professor because older sibling went to school (not for music) there so during drop-off time he went for a lesson. His other interactions with professors were mainly virtual and all were considered successful.
We have arranged a few lessons in person but they all offered virtual options. I would think that song writing/composition would be particularly easy to do. My understanding of trial lessons are that it allows you to see if they are a fit for you, more than as a part of the audition so if your D can get a good feel over zoom that is most important. (My S21 did all of his drama auditions over zoom too and it worked out just fine)
Excellent advice above. Agree with @helpingthekid73 that at least for classical instrumentalists, the teacher/student fit is an important component to explore if possible through a sample lesson.
My son (just pre-pandemic with auditions in early 2020) only did 2 in person sample lessons and only after passing pre screening. Virtual lessons were not yet really a thing at that time. As in your situation, everywhere he applied was 1-2 flights away and we were on a tight budget.
I will say that he seemed to get a really good feel for each school/program/city when he went for his in person auditions. So for him, really no need to explore the actual school ahead of time with a sample lesson.
Virtual auditions are becoming standard in the professional world due to equity issues. Not everyone can afford to travel or even give up a chunk of time during the work week for live auditions. My understanding is that is also true at many colleges. So you should feel free to ask for virtual lessons…and not feel you must travel as it is really expensive. My D also got a good feel for schools during the audition. We had done some prior visits closer to home so she could get a feel for an LAC vs a big University. She ended up at a school that she only visited once…during auditions. It worked out just fine.
Thank you everyone for your advise. I’ll have her ask for virtual lessons, it will make our lives simpler for sure!
DD24 is doing virtual trial lessons but will mostly audition in person so she can get more of a feel of the places. Currently it looks possible to do most schools but one in a very packed two weeks( if invited)